Turn me on to phantoms
I follow to the edge of the earth / And fall off
Everybody leaves / If they get the chance / And this is my chance
I get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes
- radiohead

Ok, I get it. Really. Thanks to everyone who’s sent me emails in the last few days checking to see if I’d lost my sanity or not. I’m good. But the world as we all know has been going a bit crazy. The US election is becoming stranger by the moment while the global economy is spiraling in a direction we can’t quite comprehend. Unless you live in a box you can’t help but be somewhat effected by it all. Personally I meet with business owners almost daily and you can read the concern in their faces. I’ve met people who are bleeding cash from what they assumed were safe investments stored away for their kids education or their own retirements. People right here are losing their jobs or fearing how long they will last. The news is like a car crash you can’t turn away from. Meanwhile I think to myself, “What should I write about paddling??” That’s where the pause comes in.

Paddling is something we do to enjoy the world around us. An escape from all those daily stresses we’d rather not think about or sometimes things we just don’t care about. Paddling allows us to have some moments of peace in a crazy world. Paddling can be a adrenaline pumping release of all the pent up worries and nagging frustrations. Paddling is a focus on life and a connection with the raw joy of existence. We can’t minimize the importance of our escapes. Whatever activity we use to keep us grounded and help us to face the troubles of daily life. Yet as you know, I could never sit here each day and write about everything that I have written about over the last 4 years without being a bit sensitive to my enviroment. Over sensitive sometimes, surely. Yet, such is the muse.

These days like many of you I am drenched in the heaviness of the bigger issues. Not fear, but anticipation of the unknown. Yet, like many I know there is a time when we must shut it all off. I load up my kayak and run to the pool and roll. Once again I’m lost in everything I got into paddling for. Silence. Physical awareness. Sensuality of being. It’s all there. But like rolling by a beach, the silence only lasts while your under. When you come up the noise of the world fills your ears replacing the water as it runs out.

One thing is sure. I’m beginning to feel a strong anticipation of my upcoming trip to Israel at the end of the month. Certainly to meet distant friends and to teach and explore. But also to get lost in the motions. Standing in lines at the airport. Figuring out where the little cash conversion booth is. To find a train ticket. To stare out the little round window as clouds rush below. To be distracted by the new and the unknown. For a while to focus on the moment by moment and not the distant hazy images of unknown horizons.

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